Keystone pipeline leg to Nederland up, pumping

By Dan Wallach

Updated 9:00 am, Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Keystone pipeline from Cushing Oklahoma to Nederland Texas will eventually bring crude to the Sunoco Logistics plant on Highway 347 in Nederland. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise
Photo: Dave Ryan

The Keystone pipeline from Cushing Oklahoma to Nederland Texas will...

In this Thursday, March 22, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the TransCanada Pipe Yard in Cushing, Okla. The president says that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada to Texas should only be approved if it doesn't worsen carbon pollution. Obama says allowing the oil pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so is in the nation's interest. He says that means determining that the pipeline does not contribute and "significantly exacerbate" emissions. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
Photo: AP, STF

In this Thursday, March 22, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama...

TransCanada's Keystone pipeline began delivering crude oil Wednesday to the Sunoco Logistics Inc. terminal in Nederland from the Cushing, Okla., oil hub 487 miles away, opening the tap on another source for the four Southeast Texas motor fuels refineries and other Gulf Coast refineries.

TransCanada said none of the oil is intended for export.

That leg of the Keystone pipeline, which TransCanada calls the "southern segment," is delivering crude from a variety of sources, but not the tar sands of western Canada, a TransCanada spokesman said.

Delivery of tar sands crude, controversial because of the toxic nature of the crude leached from underground deposits in western Canada that is mined rather than drilled, won't occur until and unless the United States approves a permit for construction of the line that will cross the Canadian-U.S. boundary.

On its website, TransCanada.com, the company said the crude flowing to Nederland is destined for Gulf Coast refineries.

Critics of the pipeline cite problems with pipeline leaks near Kalamazoo, Mich., and Mayflower, Ark., that have proved costly or resistant to leanup, particularly crude like the liquid bitumen developed from tar sands.

Southeast Texas has had a long history with pipelines. This region is one of the most densely developed areas with a delivery system that brings in crude, sends out finished petroleum products or pumps natural gas in and out of chemical manufacturing plants.

A chemical manufacturing plant proposed for construction on Texas 347 south of Beaumont would use natural gas as its only raw material. The gas would be delivered via pipeline.